Carrie Fisher warns new Star Wars actress: ‘Don’t be a slave like I was’

The original Star Wars trilogy actress told 23-year-old newcomer Daisy Ridley, “Don’t be a slave like I was… You keep fighting against that slave outfit.” Fisher was referring to the “Slave Leia” outfit she wore in Return of the Jedi, the iconic gold bikini costume that recently sold for $96,000 during a memorabilia auction. In a new piece in Interview Magazine, original princess Leia Carrie Fisher talks to “Force Awakens” star Daisy Ridley about the hazards of being a sex symbol in the “Star Wars” universe.The usual holidays are not the only things we are celebrating in December — on Dec. 18, we have a new day to rejoice, because it’s the day Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens opens in theaters.As two of the leading ladies of the Star Wars franchise, and two of the top-billed actresses in the upcoming “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia) and Daisy Ridley (Rey) have a bit in common and a lot to talk about. In recent years, the outfit has generated mounting criticism for its sexist implications, but Fisher defended the costume earlier this year following a news report on parents who didn’t want their children to play with toys modeled after “Slave Leia.” “That chain only ‘enslaved’ me until I could use the frabjous thing to KILL THAT DROOLING SWOLLEN SUPERTONGUED SLUG and whirl him off into infinity,” she wrote on Twitter, referencing the villainous Jabba the Hutt.

After discussing what it is like to be part of a major cultural phenomenon in a more general sense, including what it’s like to be turned into a Halloween costume and merchandized (“have they shown you any little dolls of you yet?”), Fisher chides Ridley: “You’re going to have people have fantasies about you! Idol Worship: Ridley’s favorite film when she was a child was 1996’s Matilda. “I aspired to be just like her,” she says. “I wanted to be a girl who could make a jug of water tip into a glass.” Nowadays, she’s a big fan of Carey Mulligan and Felicity Jones. 2. The movie boasts a cast that has new faces along with original cast members, like Carrie Fisher, and in November’s issue of Interview magazine, Fisher interviews Daisy Ridley, who plays Rey in the new movie. Given instructions to interview one another, it mostly consists of Fisher making Ridley laugh, with periodic musings about the beloved film series in which they both appear.

The magazine “Interview” facilitated that conversation, which connected the two via a rollicking cell phone conversation that included the pair’s thoughts on fan interactions and merchandising as well as plans to tear up Las Vegas and, yes, comments on that Princess Leia costume. From one strong female lead to another, the two actresses chatted about the film franchise, the rabid Star Wars fanbase, and most interestingly, Fisher’s gold bikini she had to wear as a slave girl as Princess Leia. That will make you uncomfortable, I’m guessing.” Ridley also praised Fisher for her portrayal of Leia, which back in 1977’s original film, A New Hope, broke the typical damsel-in-distress template by having a strong and captivating female character, and called her “a kick-ass woman … you paved the way for all the girls.” Here are some of the best quotes from the interview: Daisy Ridley: People have been asking me about crushes out of the original film, and I say you every time.

So rather than pretending one has to come down on one side or the other of the issue, we’ll simply note that slave Leia fan fiction is something that exists, and move on, because the whole interview is very smart, funny, and well worth a read. Every girl does.” In another interview with Entertainment Weekly, Gwendoline Christie talks about her masked villain character, Captain Phasma, and why she’s a good role model for girls, despite being an evil character.

Especially the part where Fisher says, “it’s hard to date once you’re a big Star Wars star because you don’t want to give people the ability to say, ‘I had sex with Princess Leia.’” Road Trip: Fisher asks Ridley if she wants to visit Las Vegas with tons of Star Wars merchandising in tow. “[We’ll] act like we’re normal people carrying Star Wars suitcases that they just sent me—hats, dresses,” Fisher says. “We will be put in a mental asylum, bit it will be a very popular one once after we get there.”

But we are used to, in our media, connecting to female characters via the way that they look, from the way they are made flesh.” As EW points out, most women in sci-fi have “traditionally been relegated to roles as scantily clad damsels in distress.” But, much like other masked “Star Wars” villains, Phasma’s personality — and so, yes, her femininity — is communicated through her body language and physicality, not by the revealing outfit she is forced to wear. “We are actually connecting to a female character as a human being,” she adds. “It wasn’t just about what I was expressing above the neck, it was also as focused on what I was expressing below the neck.